Review on Howies Restaurant

This branch of the Howies mini-chain is a flexible, family-friendly place where good value and quality go hand in hand. Like its siblings it is housed in an interesting old site - in this case a gorgeous listed Georgian building that has been stylishly updated to suit the Howies style.

The kitchen is dedicated to using local Scottish produce and free-range ingredients where possible for menu with a European slant. Simple lunches of soup and sandwiches, fish pie, haggis with neeps 'n tatties or moules marinière give way to more ambitious fixed-price dinner menus. Start with Gloucester Old Spot, chicken and leek terrine or ceviche of Scottish salmon with grapefruit salad and soy dressing, before moving on to seared pork loin steak with sweet potato purée or casseroled beef in red wine. Banoffi pie is a bestselling dessert - otherwise go for coconut crème brûlée with homemade coconut 'bounty bar' or dark chocolate torte, with red berry compote.

There are three further branches in Edinburgh - at 10-14 Victoria Street, 208 Bruntsfield Place and 1a Alva Street (see Howies website for further details); there's also an outlet in Aberdeen.